One alternative a defendant has to being in jail is to be placed on Electronic Home Monitoring. The EHM program in Kane County is administered by Adult Court Services. EHM is when a person wears a bracelet type device on their ankle. The device is about the size of a pager and is waterproof. This device is linked electronically to a base station that is plugged into the person’s home telephone. Once in place, the base station receives a signal from the bracelet and monitors the distance the bracelet is from the base station. If the wearer is too far from the base station a violation occurs and the base station dials a number, which sends a message to Probation Officials indicating a violation has occurred. Probation Officials then determine if the violation is allowable due to a pre-arranged appointment for court, school, work or some other appointment. If the violation is not due to any of the above reasons, Officers then phone the defendants home or visit the offender’s home depending on the type of violation. Probation Officers visit each defendant’s home at least once per week. Those whose charges are gang related or those charged with a sex offense will receive a home visit at least three times per week.

A second type of Electronic Monitoring uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) to monitor movement. This type of monitoring is used mostly for persons charged with a sex offense. This monitoring was achieved through the award of a federal grant from the Juvenile Criminal Justice Authority. The GPS monitor has the ability to restrict a defendant’s movement to within or outside of certain areas (e.g. a defendant may be restricted from a certain park or school). The system can set up a ‘safe zone’ in the types of areas around which the defendant cannot go. Officials are able to track and recall the defendant’s movement. This advanced system gives court officials conclusive proof as to the whereabouts of a defendant at any given time.